How do the rest of you organize your ideas? Currently I use simple text documents for each game concept, which could be a few sentences, or a basic design document. All the text files are then sorted into genres, and I can easily search for specific ideas and concepts via Spotlight (Mac file&content search). I've seen some people suggest Wikis and other software, but I haven't seen anything compelling. I'd really like to be able to query (and link) associated ideas without having to completely interrupt my thought flow. I also like the easy portability of straight text. I can slap it on a thumb drive and be able to work on it anywhere.

i do basically the same thing myself but i use a dedicated forum for just this. it's always there no matter what pc i happen to be in front of. easy to modify, log, search etc etc etc.

its easy for the other team members to browse through as well when they need reference. i've become used to it because i never had the opportunity to work in an office or face to face in any way with other members and everything was done online.

ive tried some source control stuff for documentation but ive found the only people who ever make good use of those apps are programmers. everyone else just goes back to the forums over time.

one thing i am going to try, i hope today, is an online OS like https://www.youos.com/ and http://www.eyeos.org/ to keep pertinent links, documents, files etc available to everyone. from what i gather i can use it like an ftp but it's graphical and looks like a desktop. may be neat...probably end up back on the forums though...lol

Actually, I'm currently converting my ideas into wiki form. I find the "links that need editing" page invaluable for my scattered brain's attempts to make progress.

I guess I sorta realized that other people must've thought of it before me, but I'd never seen it done before, so it felt like a neat idea to me when I conceived it.

The main logic that I really persuaded myself with was the ability to use it in ordre to comine my design and technical documents, without forcing readers of the design aspects to read the technical aspects, gameplay formulae, etc. Rather, if a reader wants to elucidate a particular aspect of the game, they just follow the link and voila!

Before this, I always used Excel, as it was mildly more useful to me than Word for its increased fussless horizontal editing capability.

I'm one of those that uses a wiki and find it suits my needs well, but I tend to be pretty good at focussing on an idea and so aren't generally phased by the interuption of thought process involved.

I also keep a small whiteboard around for temporary recording of ideas, and find it great for being able to quickly change things and to just quickly get down random thoughts, although anything I wish to keep is then transferred into my wiki.


Sorry I'm unable to offer any new suggestions - but perhaps you could take your ideas of what features you like and create your own solution?

I use text as well. And it's barely organized at all. The only thing seperating random ideas is a paragraph or generic underscore header. But I don't need to share my ideas with a team. I just implement them from top to bottom, and often delete them once I've added them into my project.

I don't have any suggestions for you, but I thought I would let you know there is at least one developer here that is probably less organized than you.

Quote:

Original post by Anonymous Poster let me rephrase that, i want to browse through my computer like it was a website, is that possible? this would include everything from game idea to junk on my computer

Just install Windows XP and avoid turning all of the flash off. It pretty much turns your hard drive into a website. I personally hate all of that extra fluff on the screen, but it is pretty.

Notes and random txt files are great, but I always benefit from organizing them into a more professional structure via Word or PDF. I've never used a Wiki but I can see their obvious benefits. When I create my Game Design Document I try to break down every conceptual idea and every design (programming) idea into two sections. Heres the overview that I've been going by. It a lil long and is tailored to the game I was making at the time, but I'm sure you'll find it usefull regardless. Ohh, btw, its best to copy the rest of this and view it in courier new font size 10!!! hope this helps...








---============---
--- Workbook Breakdown ---
---============---
notes

Project: "Ham Sandwich"
Developer: The Red Team


--------------
G.D.D Overview
==============
Purpose: To organize the all conceptual and constructive information
for reference, creation and post-project review.

Contents: The G.D.D. is broken into two sections (concept and design).
The purpose of the conception segment is to organize all
conceptual information with regards to the structure, gameplay,
resources, interactions and so forth during play of the game.
The design segment contains all programming and creation specific
information and the underlying happenings hidden to the gamer
(a.k.a. the design structure).

Maintenance: The Game Design Document should be updated as new features
and design stratagem are accessed. Since this indicates a
continually growing condition, this is a "living" document. (Green)


-------------------------
G.D.D Breakdown Structure
=========================

Book 1 (Conception)
1.1) Game Overview (General description of the elements of the game)
1.2) Resources (Required elements: Sounds, textures, meshes, models)
1.3) Game Summary (Races, weapons, trade system, exploration, etc.)
1.4) Psychology (Defining replayability, emotion setting and realism) (last)
1.5) FAQ


Book 2 (Technical Design)
2.1) Design Overview
2.2) Design Guidelines
2.3) The Engine (make sure to xref charts!!)
2.4) Charts
2.5) Formulas

2.6? Version history




---=============---
Book 1 (Conception)
---=============---



Game overview
-------------
- Game description
- Goals (realism, replayability, graphical quality, features
- Genre
- Platform
- Target audience
- Price
- System requirements (Determined during alpha tests)
- Desirables (Rag-doll phys, # of weapons, minigames... use descriptions + priority stamps + xrefs)


Resources
---------
- Concept Art
- 3D Models
- 2D Textures
- Sounds


Game Summary
------------
- Setting (paragraph)
- History (by event)
- Default Controls (table)
- Character
o Creation
o Races (description + history)
o Statistics (stats + abilities (table))
- Gameplay
o Interface/HUD (positioning + explanations)
o Trade System
o Missioning
o Tools of the Trade (weapons/items/clothing (chart))
o Locomotion
o Terrain
- Scripting
o Usage + purpose (for editors/for gamers?)
o Commands list
- Player Interactions
o A.I.
o PVP
o Communication
- Extras
o Minigames


Psychology
----------
- Evoking Emotions (Sadness, (in)security, anger, happiness, triumph, fright)
- Feeling The Realism (Insighting the feeling that you are actually in the game)
- Replayability (Giving the player reasons to come back for more)


F.A.Q.
------
- What type of game is this?
- What systems is it for?
- What is/are the main goal(s)?
- What makes this game fun?
- How many characters can I play?
- How much is it?




---=========================---
Book 2 (Technical Design)
---=========================---



Design Overview
---------------
- Language
- API
- Tools
- Design Considerations (reusability, maintainability, performance)
- Milestones (Features: & Assets:)
- Methodologies (RAD?)
- Time constraints
- Comparitive Products
- Follow-up Products (Expansions, mods and sequels)



Design Guidelines
----------------
- Coding standards (camel-hump and Hungarian notation??)
- Level/map creation (What is used (xref MDE doc), standards, examples)
- Testing Guidelines (Rules/regulations/bug reports in alpha + beta tests)



The Engine (must be extended)
----------
- Overall Structure
- Resource Manager
- Particle Engine
- Terrain Engine
- Collision detection
- Rendering
- Sound
- Input (xref to default controls in Game Summary (book 1))
- Networking (packet format, protocols, theory)
- Going Server-side (Demonstrate the differences in the server-side application)



Charts
------
- File structure source (How the files are organized in the game as it is created)
- File structure install (How the files are organized in the game install folder)
- Play-thru flow chart (Flow chart representing the gamers view of the game))
- Game flow chart (Shows the main rendering loop)
- Engine hierarchy + file list (Geometry.h, ResMan.h, Physics.h, etc.)
- Source Code (Examples and a runthru of sections)
- Scripting Command list



Formulas
--------
- Buoyancy
- Gravity
- Motion (Torque, friction, coefficient of restitution, center of mass)
- Geometry
- Algebra
- Other Math functions


Version History
---------------
v1.0.0 Completion!! (DATE here)




----------------------------------
* = Structure has been organized
** = Structure has been written
*** = Section is complete

CharlesFXD:
Using a forum is an interesting idea which I hadn't considered. Most forums have really, really bad search though. Neat stuff too with the online OS's, it reminds me a bit of Groove.

DuranStrife & Kazgoroth
What do you like best about doing it wiki style? I looked a bit at using http://www.tiddlywiki.com/ since it's all self-contained and super portable. No need to set up a server just for a wiki. My only fear would be since it's one file, what happens when I get hundreds (or thousands) of entries in it. More research needed there ...

AwashWithNotions
I like your workbook concept. I do expand things further, and frequently end up with multiple documents (some txt, some doc, etc). The first thing I usually do is just a braindump with the high-level ideas and key bits that I've thought of. Then I expand it in another doc in a proposal form, which helps me decide if I want to start doing a full design doc for it or not.

If you are using a mac check out VoodooPad, and it's little brother VoodooPad Lite. It's a personal wiki application. The lite version is free.

Javac: I'm just starting to transfer all of my notes into an online comment-enabled wiki, which makes it easier for me to run ideas past other people without repeating large blocks of information all over the place.

The biggest advantage for me, though, is that when you create dead links to not-yet-existent articles, the system catalogues them for you and collects them on a page in the wiki. Consequently, this creates for me an ever-growing to-do list in a very useful format. :)

Quote:

Original post by Javac What do you like best about doing it wiki style?

- It's reasonably quick and simple, although somewhat less so than a simple text document or the like.
- Depending on the package, it comes with search features.
- When working with a team I can just open up my webserver to the internet and give them access.